All the hype has brought us to this momentous day. As many suspected, exactly three weeks from Eric Schmidt's "in the next few weeks" promise, Gingerbread (Android 2.3) and the Nexus S have been officially released. As per the Official Google Blog, the Samsung Nexus S will be hitting Best Buy shelves in the US after December 16th (December 20th in the UK). It will feature a 4" contour display, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, front and rear cameras, 16GB of internal storage, NFC capabilities, and much more. Best Buy in the US has announced a price of $529 unlocked and without a contract. With a two-year service agreement, the phone will be $199. In the UK, reports are saying that it will be £549 unlocked and £35 on contract.

Part of the Nexus S's new feature set is due to it being the first phone to run Android 2.3 (aka Gingerbread). The new version of Android sports many improvements over Froyo (2.2), including a lot of great new features for developers. Here's what's being touted:

Fastest version of Android yet

Takes gaming to next level

Support for new open video standards

Multi-camera support

Built-in VoIP/SIP calling functionality

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Newly refined UI

New multitouch enabled soft-keyboard

Improved copy/paste

Better power managment

Andy Rubin is expected to show off the new platform today at Dive Into Mobile. In the meantime, hit up the Android developer's site to snatch the SDK. Google says that they'll be open-sourcing (releasing the AOSP build) of Gingerbread in the "coming weeks." Check out the Android 2.3 announcement video below: